Washington D.C

With Matt's spring break coming we had to get away...fast. So where better to go then to Washington D.C. Thanks to the Keller's we had a place to stay and great company. So off we went, leaving homework and New York behind.

On Thursday we drove to DC and marched right up to the White House. It was amazing how small it looked. It was also fun experiencing this new place with my family. They were so excited to see where Jack's best friend lives...Barack Obama. (Jack includes President Obama in most family drawings)

It was so amazing to be in the exact place where so many great Presidents have lived.

Our second stop was the Lincoln Memorial. We had just watched "Night at the Museum, Battle over the Smithsonian" so our kids were excited see Abraham Lincoln. It was amazing to climb the steps and to come face to face (so to speak) with Abraham Lincoln. All three of the kids were in awe of the size of the memorial and the felling that they were left with.


Claire was so excited because she learned that Martin Luther King Jr spoke on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. There was a stone to commemorate his speech. There was also a Park Ranger that was playing a recording of MLK's speech which made it come to life. Amazing!



The boys loved collecting rocks in the shadow of the Washington Memorial.

Jack met a duck and had to tell him about all the things he had seen. He was a crack up!

Lance was waiting to see the octopus that Ben Stiller put into the Reflecting Pool.

What an amazing day. Seeing so much history and being able to see it though the eyes of my little ones. It was great to learn so much and to learn how much I have to learn.

One day down 3 more to go...

Not all Created Equal...

I have been a little spoiled with haircuts for the boys. I get teased when I gush about a "great" boys haircut, but today I have be taught in a painful lesson "Not All Boys Haircut's are Created Equally"

With Matt's Spring break he have to get out of town while we can. So we are going to visit friends in Virginia and tour DC. The boys were looking a little shaggy and had bed head more often than not. My Mother-in-law, who cuts there hair in not coming into town until Easter and that is way too far away. Lance made the comment that his and Jack's hair had grown so long that people were going to think they were girls!

There is a place in Scarsdale (20 min away) that charges $20 but it is not open today and I have so much to do. A place around the corner charges $28 and one charges $30, but come on these are little kid heads! So the boys and I went on an adventure to find a "Family Barber".

When I had lost all hope and had melting ice cream in the trunk, I drove past a sign that said "We specialize in children, teens and elderly". I did I u-turn and ran in (since I had to pick up Claire in 45 min)

I should have picked up on the Mexican music or that the pictures on the wall were all of Hispanic kid's haircuts. But he was only charging me $12 each and I had a time line.

It should have also been a clue when the guy that was cutting Jack's hair used the clippers to cut his bangs! But at that point what do you say?! Do I grab my kids and run knowing that they are going to have to wear a hat for 3 weeks?! So now we have the cutest little blonde boys...with Mexican haircuts. $20 each is looking pretty good right now.

With a hand full of gel, the boys look a little more like themselves...Handsome none the less. It is a good thing that Matt gets home when they are in bed.

Pajama Day!

It was a long day and everyone needed a bath.

So it was a perfect time to take pictures in of my 3 monkeys in their

Christmas PJ's

They are so sweet and cute and all the other ways to describe these kids.

Then just like that I was reminded why I never take my own children's pictures. No amount of yelling or bribing would get my little wiggle worms to hold still.


I did manage to catch our Big Sister, Big Brother and Little Brother on film.

I had to catch this shot while I could...it made them hold still and

gave me a little giggle.

Snow Days

After we had so much fun with our last snow storm, the Lord blessed us with another. Claire had a snow day as well as Daddy. I was in HEAVEN! .

This is the view from our family room wall. It has been amazing to see the season change from our kitchen.

This time the whole family was involved in the building of our Snowman. Every since winter hit all Jack has wanted to do was to build his ideal "Frosty". He took his job of guarding the bottom of our snowman very seriously.

Lance was caught in the cross fire's of Daddy's and Dragos (our superintendent) snowball fight. They were ruthless, no one was safe. The people coming out of the building, the people going in the building the snowplow trash trucks...all fair game in their sights. Not even holding a camera was a good enough excuse not to be hit with a huge snowball.



Look at what our little California girl has become...a fair skin NY snow bunny.




Jack still at his post of watching Frosty. The craziest thing happen while Jack was asleep and not at his post. Frosty crossed the road! The next day we went looking for him and thought that he had left and then Lance pointed out that he had indeed, crossed the sidewalk and ended up on the retaining wall. Amazing the things that happen in the Bronx.

Snow!

We kept hearing that this Snow Storm was coming and we waited and waited and then it came. It was beautiful! The biggest snow flakes that I have ever seen drifted pass our 6th floor window. Many of then were as big as cotton balls...amazing! I don't know who had more fun watching it me or the kids.

The next day we ventured out in the snow. We made track in the fresh snow and built a snowman with the neighbors. After several hours my toes were numb and I had to get back indoors. Matt took our picture from our Apartment.

The following day we braved the cold again. One of Jack's favorite things to do was just lay in the snow and watch as the snowflakes fell down on him.

I wondered if he had fallen asleep, no just pondering.

When we woke up we were greeted with this funky snow statue out our window Some crazy neighbors took a break from their studies

to build this HUGE penguin... in the middle of the night.

Claire found chunks of snow and started her own Jewelry store. Lance was her employee and our friend Rose was her customer. She was cracking me up with the descriptions of each "piece". We spent several hours outside. Then Mommy's toes started to freeze off and I knew it was time to come in. The Land-O-Lake hot chocolate and homemade bread hit the spot.